Why We Come Back

Editor’s Note: All of the following parents
are also leaders of NFB parent divisions within their states. We have included
contact information for each of them. They are available to talk to other families,
teachers, or others from their states or regions about the NFB, the convention,
or any topic related to blindness.

Julie
Hunter (Colorado): Even though my blind child is well into adulthood,
I still love to attend NFB conventions. Taking part in the National Organization
of Parents of Blind Children seminars and meetings is important to me. It gives
me a chance to learn about new approaches to raising and educating blind kids,
as well as providing an opportunity to share my experiences with younger parents.
At home in Denver, I remain active with our state affiliate and our Colorado
Parents of Blind Children, and I use what I learn when helping young parents
with IEP meetings. Attending an NFB national convention is the best way to get
a boost of enthusiasm for what we are all doing in the NFB, working together
to create equality of opportunity for all blind people--children and adults.
[The president of the Colorado Parents of Blind Children is Lucie Kiwimagi.
Her contact information is <[email protected]>.]

1. To help with our part in organizing/running the NOPBC events
(registration primarily) and anything else that needs done.

2. Our son Michael certainly benefits from the program for teens.
He has made many friends that he wishes to visit with every year. He has been
conversing over the Internet with a friend of a friend that he knows through
NFB/NOPBC connections, and he will be meeting that friend for the first time
at the 2007 convention. Socializing is SOOOO important!

3. Our younger son (who is sighted) gets to visit with his best
friend, Levi (another sighted sibling), and during convention they are inseparable--two
peas in a pod--couldn’t be more alike. Again, socializing is SOOOO important.

4. We have also made many friends in the NFB/NOPBC, and feel
that we are part of a large family. Some friends we see only at convention.
We are very good friends with one family whose two kids (one blind and one sighted)
are exactly the same age as our two kids (one blind and one sighted). We live
near the East Coast and they live near the West Coast, but we get to spend some
vacation time during the convention with them. Socializing is SOOOOO important.

Note the theme? I think everyone that has been to the NFB convention
gets a tremendous amount of information and a boost of energy (and the NFB convention
is the best place for this). But we can’t forget that we are a family--both
the small unit and the larger NOPBC/NFB family--and families need to have fun
and recharge our connections to each other, too.

So, we come to help others, to get and give information, to
recharge, to renew our friendships, and to rededicate ourselves to the challenges
that lie ahead.

Barbara
Mathews (California) <[email protected]>: Here are a few
reasons we come back: Kyra gets to see her friends; I get to see my friends;
we’ll meet new friends; and we will inevitably learn something (or many things)
we didn’t know before. Last summer, Kyra learned how to use the abacus from
Annee Hartzell (a blind teacher of blind children). It was totally unplanned.
I don’t know what it will be next summer, but it will be great.

Stephanie
Kieszak-Holloway (Georgia) <[email protected]>: My family will
be attending our fourth annual NFB convention in Atlanta this summer. The first
year my husband and I attended just a few sessions, but we saw enough to know
we wanted to bring the whole family to Kentucky for the 2005 convention. Last
year’s convention in Dallas was our best yet as our twelve-year-old sighted
daughter, Sarah, eagerly ran off to the teen room on a daily basis, and our
three-year-old, Kendra (who is blind), had a chance to mingle with other blind
children and adults. Our five-month-old son, RJ, attended many of the sessions
with me. I was honored to be elected to the board of the NOPBC at the 2006 convention
as well.

Although Kendra has had a cane since the age of eighteen months,
it wasn’t until she heard the tap, tap, tap of hundreds of other canes at the
convention that she started to show interest in using hers. Six months after
our last convention, Kendra still talks about the Sensory Safari and about meeting
Merry-Noel Chamberlain at the Cane Walk. We will continue to attend NFB conventions
because it’s the best way we know of to show Kendra that blindness does not
need to limit her in any way.

Debby
Brackett (Florida) <[email protected]>: We found the NFB when
researching information about a three-year-old girl we were interested in adopting
who is totally blind. Most groups asked why we would want to do so, while others
told us not to bother. The NFB and NOPBC said, “Go for it! You can do it, and
we’re here to help.” Seven years later, our daughter is an honor roll student
in the fifth grade in regular classes. The NFB helped us ensure she is given
the tools she needs to succeed. She came to us with the “I can do it if you
teach me how” attitude that characterizes the NFB.

Convention is a great opportunity to learn, to teach, and to
socialize. We strengthen our knowledge about issues for our children, and we
reconnect with the friends we’ve made over the years. It also allows us to help
guide others along this path. I can’t imagine a summer without the NFB national
convention.

Jill
Weatherd (Wyoming) <[email protected]>: I remember our
first convention in California. We were so overwhelmed. I remember Brad saying
something like, “Now don’t even think about this NFB convention becoming our
vacation every year.” Well, guess what. We’ve gone every year since then and
it IS our family vacation. It’s our family vacation because the NFB is our family.
We have friends in the NFB who get it, “it” being that blind people are people
first and foremost, and that they are more like other people than they are different.
It’s the one week of the year when nobody gives our daughter a second look,
unless it’s because she’s riding her cane like a pony instead of using it properly.
We go because we want to keep tabs on the kids who are a few years older than
our daughter--it’s a way of preparing for the future and scoping out potential
problems and opportunities. We go so that we can be the supportive “been there
done that” family that newer parents can lean on--because that’s what we experienced
as new parents. We go so that our daughter will get the solid foundation of
NFB philosophy that she can add to and carry with her as she grows up. We’re
looking forward to the year we will be going to watch our daughter in her leadership
role as an adult in the NFB.

Maria
T. Garcia (New York) <[email protected]>: Why do I come back?
I come back because I am the mother of a remarkable child who happens to be
blind. As she grows, her needs change. As her needs change, what I need to know
to prepare her to become the independent “turn the world on its heels” woman
she is destined to become changes.

I come back because every year, bar none, I have found the inspiration
and motivation I need to continue for another year as a parent leader in my
state. I come back because the convention experience fills me to the brim. I
come back because it makes my heart sing.

Carrie
Gilmer (Minnesota) <[email protected]>: We came to our first
convention when our blind son was eight years old; he is now 16. Our top ten
reasons for coming back are:

10. It is the one time in the year when our son is in the majority
population. At the convention there are tons of peers and mentors for him to
hang around with.

9. It is a great learning experience for his siblings.

8. It demonstrates to our son that the whole family is committed
and behind him; we believe in his normalcy.

7. The NFB and NOPBC have given us so much; the convention is
a time and a place we can give back.

6. Networking, baby! We always find new resources and make new
contacts.

5. We can get our hands on exciting new things in technology,
aids, and appliances. Try before you buy, is our motto.

4. Our son can visit a “store” [the Braille book flea market]
and scour the shelves for a favorite book, pull it off the shelf, and take it
home.

3. Excellent speakers that inspire and inform.

2. Mom has maid service for a week and no cooking and lots of
fun.

1. Our son would kill us if we didn’t go.

Carol
Castellano (New Jersey) <[email protected]>: We began
attending NFB conventions when our daughter was in first grade, when we were
desperate for help with her education. We received help and so much more. Our
daughter is now a senior in college and we’re still attending the conventions.
What we found that first time is what still inspires and energizes us each time
we go--the message that blind people can lead normal lives complete with a job,
a family, friendships, fun, and involvement in community life. We learn something
new at convention each year that can not only help our child but that we can
take back to our home state to help other blind kids and their families. Attending
an NFB convention is absolutely THE BEST thing you can do for your blind child.